saying goodbye

i have lost 2 people to suicide but the person i want to talk about is josephine. jo.

i met her about a year ago when i was in the psychiatric hospital. she was an amazing artist, beautiful, when she was well a very caring individual with a husband and two daughters that she loved so much.

jo was also very ill. i'm not going to just talk about her illness, because that isn't all of who she was, but recently it had taken up a lot of her. she came back into hospital on the 3rd jan this year. i talked to her in the smoking room, and i could see how ill she was this time. she was talking about things that were scary to hear. not depression alone, but being plagued by demons, talking to jesus, and the devil trying to kill her.

there was nothing we could do, she could barely stand up, and in the end she said she was going to bed. i sat in the smoking room, next door to her bedroom a bit longer and then i too went to bed. the next morning we were told that jo managed to hang herself, in the psych ward, in her room while we were all sitting in the smoking room next door.

she didnt make it. i went to her funeral, the first funeral i've ever been to. it was a lovely service, her family were so strong and talked about the jo we knew was there, underneath the illness. they had all her art work around the pub after and it was a great credit to her life.

i think about you often jo, and will never forget you. i just hope you have found the safe place you were looking for. xxx

thanks for sharing your story with us....'Jo sounds like a beautifull person on both the outside and inside....I am sorry for your loss...but her memory lives on with you......with caring thoughts...-Jodi